


By their Side

by Ultraviollett



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sanders Sides (Web Series), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Gen, all the sides have powers, but hopefully will be finished in the next ten years, but nothing too graphic, inconsistent updates, morally grey deceit, no ships, some violence because this is a superhero story, superhero, sympathetic deceit, thomas sanders is a disaster gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2019-08-23 10:44:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16617464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultraviollett/pseuds/Ultraviollett
Summary: Thomas Sanders is a mutant. Since the day he was born, he had several 'sides' in his head, and crazy awesome powers. After saving Hawkeye, he is discovered by the Avengers and asked to join the team, but then it all goes horribly wrong.





	1. On the bright side...

**Author's Note:**

> This mayyy have sympathetic deceit. Don't worry, the next chapter is going up tomorrow and I already have it written.  
> 

Thomas had been abnormal for quite some time now. His unusual abilities could even be classified as ‘super’. Ever since he was born, he had several voices in his head that talked to him and kept him company. He had learnt their traits and quirky personalities over time, and how they operated on their own.   
One eventful day when he was twelve, he discovered that he could conjure them into the physical world. He had even learned their names. 

Logan was first to reveal his name. It was only logical- which was what he was all about. Logan was the most mathematical and unemotional of the crew, and sometimes he forgot he had any at all. He had even been dubbed ‘Logic’ before people addressed him as Logan. Still, all the others loved/tolerated him like the nerd he was.

Patton was the second to open up and, if you knew him, it made sense. He was always reaching out to the other ‘sides’, as Thomas liked to call them, cracking jokes, and calling them kiddo. He was a constant beam of positive energy. Before Thomas knew his name, he was called Morality. 

Roman was third. He would have loved to be first. Drama was his nature. Although his name reveal wasn’t as flashy as it could’ve been, he made up for it because of how needlessly flamboyant he was. He wasn’t called Princey for nothing, he donned capes as quickly as Logan could eat a jar of Crofters jam.

Virgil, as expected, was last. He had been the most withdrawn of the sides since they were sentient, and had literally been dubbed Anxiety by Thomas. He was the reason that Thomas decided to keep the sides and their abilities a secret. Even though Roman wanted to strap on a pair of impractical boots and have a cape that flowed with the wind to save civilians, Virgil was cautious. He was sensitive of what the public may think of them, or the danger that they could get into doing superhero work.

Roman was still irked about that. 

“All FOUR of us have at least one power!” He would usually exclaim when Virgil and/or Logan tried to explain why it was a bad idea. “Not even the avengers have that much power for one person!”

This would then result in Logan arguing the technicalities of just how many people they were. Thomas may have been one person, but Logan always said they were different individuals.

Logan won most arguments. Before they discovered their powers, the sides and Thomas assumed it was because of his genius intellect. Eventually, though, they found out that Logan possessed the power to lace persuasion into his words. He could convince people of ideas they might disagree with, and if he tried hard enough, he could persuade them into doing things. His abilities generally fell apart once he tried to convince people of more fantastical things, although he hadn’t tried stretching his ability that far.  
Roman’s powers were as flashy as he was. He could conjure fire and fly. Because he couldn’t use his power for big stunts, he was restricted to using it for lighting candles and dangerous party tricks.  
Patton could increase other’s powers and heal people, and it was mostly used for minor scrapes or bruises Thomas would get when he bumped his knee into whatever structure was nearby.  
Virgil had only one power-invisibility. He was slightly upset with his lackluster power and how it seemed to represent him, but at least he hadn’t turned out like Deceit.

That was the other reason they had decided to never use their abilities.

………………………..

On that day, the Avengers were fighting in New York against a B-list villain that called himself the Atrocity, who had the ability to raise dead hordes that killed at the touch, but for a maximum of five minutes. Because of the time constraint, he was a mostly ignored baddie. He attacked every once-in-a-while for short intervals. Just a nuisance, really. Which was why Hawkeye wasn’t focusing in the early morning, when he was fighting against the Atrocity.  
Which was why he was caught off guard and thrown three stories to the ground on solid asphalt concrete.  
Which was why Thomas, safely hidden from the fight in a mall parking lot, saw Hawkeye hit the ground, and not get up.  
Which is why Thomas had such a hard decision to make.

“We have to help him!” Patton immediately shouted as soon as the hero fell and hit the ground. Hawkeye’s condition looked bad. His limbs were splayed around at awkward angles.   
“W-we can’t.” Virgil sunk deeper in his hoodie inside Thomas’s mind. “You know we can’t, we made rules.”  
“We can’t leave a hero to die!” Roman countered, “The Atrocity’s minions are starting to climb down near him, if he doesn’t get back up, then...”  
“The rules!” Virgil yelled so loudly that Thomas’s head shook. It was always bad when the sides fought, but the situation and his own indecision made it worse.  
On one hand, it was impossible to think of revealing himself and his powers.  
On the other, it was impossible to not help one of the Avengers.  
Before he could make a decision, he felt a presence leave him.

Patton was already ten feet away by the time Thomas turned around. He rushed over to Hawkeye. His powers had never been used to heal more than tiny scrapes, but he had to try. The side of Hawkeye’s uniform had already been soaked in blood.  
Patton placed his hands onto the fallen hero’s side. He willed the magic to start flowing. When he felt his power dampen his hands, he knew it wasn’t enough to heal the massive injury Hawkeye had gained. His magic felt dry. Hawkeye would lay dead because of him.  
Deep breaths, Patton said to himself, you can do this.  
Using up more power than he ever had before, Patton willed his hands to be soaked in healing magic. He let it flow through Hawkeye’s wound.   
Silence.   
Patton gasped. Green light flowed through the wound, through the air. He realized he was trembling. His hands felt raw and leached of life, shocked from the surge of power that he wasn't used to. Letting out the breath he had been holding in, Patton slumped his shoulders. The danger was over.

Apparently not. An undead minion, standing next to him, lunged towards him. He hadn't noticed it, in his haste to help. How would Thomas get on without him if he wasn't there? How would the others? I guess I won't find out, he accepted, as the undead stretched his fingers out for his head.

The air around him lit up in flames. Roman stood beside him, legs in a fighting stance, staring down at the creature he had just burnt to a crisp.   
“Wow.” He said, a smirk forming on his lips, “ I forgot how powerful I am..”   
He swept his arms around, and flames smothered the undead in a circle around him. The rest of the minions started to crawl towards him, but they stopped suddenly, then melted.  
“I really AM powerful,” Roman smiled.  
“No,” said Hawkeye. “That's just the five-minute mark of the Atrocity's power.”  
With a groan, he opened his eyes. Patton and Roman exchanged glances.  
“Thanks for the assist, by the way. What are your-”  
They were gone.

 

“That was too close,” Virgil released them from his invisible covering, once everyone was back inside of Thomas’s mind. “You almost DIED, for goodness sake. What would’ve happened then?”  
“What would've happened without Hawkeye on the Avengers?!” Roman countered.   
“What then? The avengers are heroes, and we saved one of them. Wait. I saved. An Avenger. We rescued a superhero. That must mean- we’re heroes!”  
“THAT’S NOT WHAT YOU SHOULD BE FOCUSING ON! You could’ve been killed! Patton was this close to getting hurt, or worse.”  
“Well, that’s why I stopped them! With my super awesome powers that I’m never able to use, because of the stupid rule everyone decided upon.”  
“Don’t you EVER take ANYTHING seriously?” Virgil growled. “You remember why we do this, because of what happened, and who. This isn’t about you and your fancy powers, this is about keeping Thomas safe!!” He bared his teeth, and, not ready for another row with Roman, he disappeared into his room.

“I agree with Virgil,” Logan stated. “It is evident why we made this decision, Roman, you certainly know this.” He left the conversation, moving towards the library in Thomas’s mind.  
As soon as Logan left, Roman sat down and sighed. The mind palace was quiet with the two other sides missing. Almost peaceful.  
“You understand why, right Padré? It’s not just to fill my ego, I feel we could help people with our powers!”  
“Of course kiddo,” Patton said, “But I don’t think we can change their minds right now. At least, not without something drastic happening.”  
Roman sighed.  
“I know, I know, you’re right. Still, one can only hope.”


	2. Time for Some 'Side'kicks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hawkeye starts to wonder about that weird mutant that saved him, and decides to do something about it. Also I know the pun isn't that relevant, I'm running out of puns and it's only the second chapter. Please, suggest some punny titles, i need help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments, dudebros! This is the first fic in a while (more than 2 years), so it really helps with all your comments. Next chapter will be up next week by Qmy (so that timing's probably unreliable).

“Are you okay, Hawkeye?”   
Black Widow had noticed how differently Hawkeye had been acting since their monthly battle with ‘the Atrocity’. He seemed lost, and had been staring into space when Cap lectured them on all the new legal matters to do with the Avengers or the new plans for an Avengers charity. Not that that was saying much, Hawkeye wasn’t the most attentive when it came to Avenger meetings. Still, she could sense something was off.  
“What’s bothering you?” She said casually. Hawkeye sank down on the rollback sofa in Avengers tower.  
“Some mutant saved me in that last battle.”  
“Really?” There were always supers in the city, but usually all they helped with was clean-up, or at at the most, protecting civilians.  
“I didn’t see much of them, but there were three of them.”  
“I thought you said a mutant. Singular.”  
“I don’t know. They all had the exact same face. I think that it was just one person, maybe with a cloning ability.”  
“And...”  
“And what?”  
“You’re obviously worked up over something. Spit it out.”  
“All of his clones had a different power. One of them could fly, and he incinerated a row of minions. The other one healed my wound-”  
“Your wound?” Black widow’s eyebrows crossed down into a disapproving glare. She shifted her weight, looking at Hawkeye to demand an explanation.  
“Um, I fell off the building pretty hard,” he scratched the back of his neck.  
“You fell off the building, but you neglected to mention you were wounded.”  
“Don’t get mad.”  
“I am.”  
“Um...”  
“I’ll get mad at you later, how are you not dying on the floor now?”  
“The mutant-one of the mutants-had crazy mad healing powers. I don’t even have a wound anymore!”  
“So?”  
“I think we should at least consider recruiting them.”  
“Tony would never-”  
“Remember that program we considered? Recruiting new heroes to train, so they can help? We only cut it because all the newbies were just immediately dubbed avengers, and we had no one to train.”  
“Talk to Tony. Don’t mention you getting hurt to Steve. He can get more worried than me.”  
“I thought you were mad.”  
“Same difference.” Black Widow slid away from the conversation

……………………..

“Of course I can find him” Tony said, crossing his arms, “Do you even know me?”  
“And you’re on board with the recruitment program?”  
“I was the one who started the program, Clint. I was even going to start sooner, but I was to busy being a super genius awesome tech company owner to get it up and running. Name and information of this mutant, please?”  
Clint rattled off the information, and Tony started to tap away at his holographic laptop’s keyboard. Deciding to wait for Tony, Clint fell down on the couch.

“I found ‘im.”  
“What took you so long?” Clint joked. He walked to where Tony was. Stark had been scrolling through an Instagram page.  
“This your dude?” Tony stark sipped a latte next to his computer, “You can thank me later.”  
Clint looked through the photos. Most of them consisted of a young man smiling at the camera, sometimes with purple hair, or with theatre costumes.  
“That’s him.”  
“What’s him, Mr. Clint?” Spiderman had walked into the room. On the ceiling. He flipped down onto the floor.  
“Watcha looking at?”   
“What are you doing here, kid?” Stark tried to fake disappointment to his almost son.  
“You said I could come over.” Peter said, “Last Sunday.” He walked to the jumbo fridge and took out a bucket of ice cream.  
Tony pinched his nose and sighed.  
“Okay then, I’ve found his address. Who wants to get our supposed ‘Thomas Sanders’?”


	3. Time to De-side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas realizes that his actions have consequences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey this is q's part, I know it's short but another update will come soon!

Thomas was having a hard time sleeping. He could feel the sides inside his head, yelling at each other.   
“I still can’t believe you did that! Do you have any idea what might happen to us because you wanted to play hero,” hissed Virgil.   
“And what’s wrong with that?!” Roman snapped.  
“wh-what’s wrong with that? We all made a promise that we would never become heroes not after what happened... before” Virgil’s voice faded from angry to almost sad. Roman’s face softened. “Look I know you’re trying to be careful and that you don’t want any us of to get hurt, but you can’t keep holding us back. We did something incredible, saved an avenger, and we could all be doing better things if you weren’t too-" he stomped his foot, "too scared!”  
“Too scared!! I’m thinking about our safety. Did you ever think what you might have done. What if someone comes looking for Thomas, looking for us. I’m trying to keep us safe and all you care about is yourself and your stupid powers! This isn’t some fairytale, this is real life. I’m trying to protect you. you’re going to mess up, like you always do!”   
“SHUT UP!!” Roman screamed. “You think you’re so perfect, you think you’ve got everything figured out but you don’t. There’s so much more out there if you’d only take the chance”.   
Virgil laughed, “you still don’t get it do you? This doesn’t go anywhere, and it'll only lead to pain,” Virgil left the room, leaving the rest of the sides in an awkward silence.

Outside, Thomas was finally starting to drift off as he heard a knock. He groaned and opened the door.   
“Hello-”   
Black widow was standing in the doorway.  
Thomas slammed the door shut. “Oh no oh no oh no, they found me- how did they find me? Black widow. At my door. Black widow! Shoot, I shut the door on black widow. is that illegal? Better to not find out.” Thomas opened the door. 

Black widow looked unfazed by the door slammed in her face. She paused slightly.   
“Hello Thomas Sanders, I’m here to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative”


	4. The Sidekicks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas finds himself on the helicopter to have his powers tested, and meets a small Spiderchild along the way,

The helicarrier had been the most surprising. Thomas had watched its propellers move into the open air, hidden in compartments. They started off slower, but gradually increased in speed until the ship was flying through the air. The entire ship! Logan almost hyperventilated at the sight, and was still muttering “But that’s im-imposible...” in Thomas’s head. It was annoying when he was trying to focus on what Black Widow was saying.  
“-requires we write a file on you and your powers.” She pointed to a corridor filled with shield agents. “We have Doctor Banner on board to examine your abilities. Walk down that hallway, take a right, then third door on the left.”  
This is moving too fast, Virgil’s anxious voice started when Thomas . It’s not too late to turn back.  
And do what, Jack Smellington, jump off the helicarrier? Roman couldn’t hide the fact that he was excited, and Thomas could almost feel him hopping around in the mind palace, psyched for meeting another famous superhero.  
When Thomas finally arrived at his destination after getting lost twice, he had to push through several stacks of paper and two high tech coffee machines(?) to finally get to the main lab. It had white quarantine walls, and a similar floor that was littered with empty gummy snack bags (??). Another door led to a second room with a two way mirror, in what seemed to be the test room. The test room had objects for children to play with, like a batman action figure (???), which was right next to red marks on the wall that looked like bloodstains(?????!??). Ignoring it, he made his way to Doctor Banner. he had his headphones in, and hadn’t noticed Thomas yet.   
“Uhm, Doctor Banner?” No response.  
“Banner? Doctor Banner?” He continued to listen to his music.  
Thomas tapped the avenger’s shoulder.  
“W-WHAT?” He jumped two meters into the air. “Sorry, music, uh, helps me concentrate. Who are you again?”  
This was suuch a bad idea, Virgil said.  
“Thomas Sanders, Mr. Banner.”  
“And that is...”  
Tell him we’re the one who valiantly saved Hawkeye!, Roman crooned, the man who’s about to become the greatest superhero in this world!  
“The mutant.”  
Bruce Banner’s eyes popped out of his skull. He immediately leapt to his computer and attacked the keyboard, writing notes.  
“Hop over to that room over there.” He said, not looking up from the monitor.  
“The one with the blood…?” Thomas pointed vaguely toward the other side of the room, but Banner already had his headphones in.

As soon as he was in the test room, he heard Banner’s voice over a speaker located at the left corner of the room, above the one-way mirror.  
“Just, do your thing.”  
Roman was eager to come out. As soon as the words were spoke, he sunk up right in front of Thomas. Patton and Logan followed suit.  
“Oh, wow! Wow. ” Thomas could hear scribbling from the speaker.  
“So these are your… clones?”  
Clones?” Roman said. “I am not a clone, I am my own personality trait!”  
Thomas coughed, “They’re not really clones, they’re more like a specific part of me, a side.”  
“Clones...” there was muttering and the sound of a keyboard being used. “I’m just going to write down clones.”  
Virgil sighed, still in Thomas’s head. I told you this was a bad idea. I’m going to stay up in here.  
“What can your clones do?” Banner’s voice appeared again.  
“I charmspeak.” Logan replied, “I can convince people to do things for me, but the more outrageous the action, the harder it is.”  
“Watch what I can do!” fire burst from Roman’s arms and he rose two feet from the ground. “I’m like that guy from the Fantastic Four!”  
“I just heal. And can amplify the other powers.”  
More typing sounds from the intercom. “Anything else?”  
The sides looked expectantly at Thomas. Virgil didn’t move.  
“Yeah, yep that’s all. All of my sides.” his look to the other sides said, I’ll explain later.  
“Step out of the test room, then.”  
But before he could open a door, A small young child with scruffy brown hair raced through the door.  
“Mr. Banner! Black Widow said the mutant was in here, and I was wondering if I could see their power and look at their data?”  
“I just finished. He has a cloning power, and is coming out of the test room.”  
The kid walked over to the test room at the same time Patton opened the door.  
He noticed Thomas. His eyes opened wide, trying to comprehend what he was seeing, and all he managed to say was “Th-Thomas Sanders?”  
Thomas sanders paused. He met fans all the time, but now wasn’t the normal moment for a picture.  
“Hey there, what’s your name?  
“Peter Parker, sir. I’m a huge fan of all your content!” He looked around and noticed both Roman Logan, and Patton standing there as well. “I didn’t know you had clones, though.”  
“It’s not public information yet, and they’re not clones.”  
“What are they?”  
“They’re my sides. Like, different parts of my personalities.”  
Peter looked over the sides again, “Wait, aren’t some of these guys from your vines? The teacher, the dad, and the prince?”  
“Yes but we’re more than that.” Roman slipped into the conversation. “I’m Roman, the creative side! Thomas’s hopes, dreams, and aspirations. I help him find inspiration and strive towards his goals! My input is essential in the creative process, so every vine Thomas makes has my input.”  
“Woah! What do the others do?”  
“Patton, I’m the morality!”  
“Logan, Logic. Please ensure this secret doesn’t fall into the public, It would be detrimental if Thomas was exposed as a mutant.”  
“Of course.” Mutants weren’t exactly the most celebrated group in America right now, so even if Thomas could be open about being gay, there were so many anti-mutant hate groups that he felt unsafe.  
“Who else knows?” Peter asked.  
The question sent Thomas back. He remembered when Joan first learned of his powers. It was when they were walking back to his house, but he had forgotten that he had left Patton to clean up the house when he was gone. It had been awkward explaining to Joan why there were two Thomases, but they were pretty quick to accept Thomas’s mutant-ness. His mom knew, of course, and he was going to work up the courage to tell his other friends, but it was nerve-wracking.  
Just as he was about to answer Peter’s question, Banner shooed the kid away, “I don’t care how famous he is, stop bugging our new recruit.”  
Peter reluctantly walked out of the room.  
Banner turned to look back at his computer, “Okay, time for your first mission.”  
“First mission?” Thomas’s anxiety (Virgil) cranked up by ten, “Don’t I need training, or a costume? A superhero name?”  
“Black Widow says the best experience is first hand experience. Don’t worry, it’s just a stakeout anyway, hardly anything will happen.”  
“For a superhero names. Can we be ‘the cat lovers’?” Patton chimed in.  
“That has nothing to do with our power and we’re all allergic to cats, Patton.” Logan interjected.  
“You don’t need a hero name.” Banner said, “Right now, you’re just going to be... sidekicks.”  
You can still back out, Virgil nudged Thomas mentally. There was no way he could just bail out when he was already so far in. He knew Roman was probably overjoyed right now, Patton as well, and Logan would be too busy analyzing to be scared. But Thomas couldn’t help but feel nervous about the dangers of even a small mission. Although… it was just a stakeout, right?  
“The sidekicks? We can work with that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first off, sorry this took so long. I was too busy writing Saiki K fics if you want to take a look at those (although I don't know how many sanders sides fans are Saiki K fans).  
> The next chapter should come sooner since I have a break and therefore more time to write.


	5. The Mission Goes Sideways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas and his sides are tested on a stakeout mission with Peter Parker and Captain America, but things don't turn out as planned as an unexpected friend shows up.

“This isn't very exciting.” Thomas said aloud,“ I don't know what was so worried about.”  
They were sitting in a car, Thomas, Peter, and Captain America all together. All of his sides were out in the open, besides Virgil. Although in a regular car they may have been squished with 6 people, there was plenty of room in SHIELD's Covert Operations Multi-purpose Vehicle (trademarked). On the outside, it looked like a slightly-used mom's minivan, but the inside was all black, and included spy technology that Thomas couldn't understand, like infrared security cameras and multiple computers that a hacker would die for. Peter Parker was manning all the devices, and Logan stood beside him as the only one eager to learn how it operated.   
Currently, they were staking out a museum. The main goal of their mission was to stop someone from stealing a small piece of vibranium that had recently been on display. It was a gift from Wakanda to strengthen relationships with the US. However, vibranium was highly valuable and even such a small piece could be worth something. Usually, the museum would hire some guards to protect the precious metal, but SHIELD had requested to train their newest recruit here. Nick Fury had originally not agreed to it, but Black Widow had convinced him enough that he would allow it.  
For some time now, Captain America had been in silence. his eyes faces towards the building they were observing, but he didn't seem to be focused on their mission. Instead, he seemed to mentally prepare himself inside his head.  
“So... Thomas,” Captain America sounded like a parent going to lecture his child about the birds and the bees. “ How are you finding the Avengers? Ready to become a hero?”  
“Um… yes?”  
Roman and Patton both shifted to the back where Logan was, wanting to avoid the conversation.  
“You know, being a hero isn't just about being famous, son. There are many other aspects that make you a true hero. Like bravery.”  
Thomas nodded, looking down to the ground.  
“And selflessness. A good hero isn't self sacrificing, but they do rescue civilians over capturing a villain. A lot of youngsters start out thinking they'll rise up the ranks by beating the baddies and become the number one hero, but doing your duty and helping others is more important.”  
Don't make eye contact, Virgil said in Thomas's head, and try to not move, or else he'll talk for longer. Just nod and agree.  
“When I was young, I may have been small and sickly, but that didn't mean I wouldn't help out my community in any way I could. That was a fundamental part in me becoming Captain America. You got all that, son?”  
“Yessir.”  
“I'm glad we had this talk. Some people may not agree with heroes, but we really do help the world.”  
Before Captain America could decide to continue on, Thomas quickly scooted away from the seat he was sitting in and over to where Patton, Logan, and Roman were.  
“How are you guys doing?”  
“Well enough.” Peter kept clicking on the screen. He leaned over to whisper to Thomas. “Did Captain America try to give you the hero speech? He did that with me too.”  
“Yeah,” Thomas laughed quietly, “Anyway, anything happen yet?”  
Peter looked back at the monitor, “No, nothing. I was wondering, Thomas, if the sides get hurt does it affect you?”  
“No. and once they sink down back into my mind, their injuries can fade. Also, if I get hurt it doesn’t affect them until they sink down then sink up.”  
“The essential idea is that our physical bodies are just copies of his body from the moment we sink up, so we are just ‘borrowing’ his form.” Logan interjected, happy to give out any information he could.  
“Does Thomas have any powers?”  
“No, but he can use our powers if we both agree to it fully. That makes it hard and means it can only be used in low-stress situations.”  
“Hey, Peter?” Thomas interrupted his and Logan’s side conversation, “Do you have any powers? Or are you just here as the techie?”  
“I can’t believe I forgot to tell you!” Peter thought for a bit, then extended his hand for a handshake. “Nice to meet you Thomas, I’m Spiderman!”  
“Wait wait wait, Spiderman? Like, Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman?”  
“Yep! I even have my own suit.”  
“That’s crazy! I’m a huge fan of yours!”  
“And I’m a huge fan of yours!”  
“How do you stick to walls and swing on webs? Are you naturally strong?” Logan prepared himself to record the information with a pen and notebook in his hands.  
“I got my sticky hands and strength from a radioactive spider bite. But I have web slingers for swinging.” He took a second to reach into his bag and pull out a small device that could be mistaken for a watch. A small click sound was heard when he placed it on his wrist.  
“These are the web shooters.”  
Logan’s eyebrows shot up on his head. “H-, how did you get those? The technological finesse required-”  
“I made them,” Peter kept fiddling with the contraptions, “But Mr. Stark helped improve them from when I first built it.”  
“Can I have the blueprints and try them out!?”  
This was followed by Logan fangirling over the invention as Peter strapped it to his own wrist.  
Thomas looked at the screen while Logan messed up the inside of the van with artificial webbing. A small, low-quality blob moved across the screen.  
“Is that… is that important?” Thomas pointed at the computer.  
“Oops! Almost failed the whole mission.” Peter moved back to the computer from where he had been entertaining Logan. “Okay everyone, sorry for sending you to fight so early, but everyone needs to stake out an exit, otherwise we won’t have the manpower to cover all of the potential getaways.”  
I’m always here to turn you invisible and run away, Virgil offered helpfully inside Thomas’s mind. Thanks Virge.  
Peter quickly pointed out where each of them would go, explained a few things, and they ran off to their stations.   
\----  
Patton was standing underneath the second entrance near the back of the museum, right in the back of the ‘creatures of the ocean’ exhibit. Right in front of his face was a bigger-than-life anglerfish, but he could barely see any other displays; the lack of light left the room smothered in darkness. The anglerfish's eyes looked like they were staring deep into his soul.   
What were the chances the villain would end up at his station anyway? He and Thomas were the unpowered ones, so Captain America told them (with a smile and a ‘listen here, son’) to use their earpieces and warn them if the villain appeared where they were. But that wasn’t comforting when he was half a building away from everyone else. Calm down, Patton. There’s only a one in six chance the villain will go to your spot, he tried to comfort himself, Besides, who even uses the back exit? Even if he does, you can convince him to not steal the vibranium. You’re Morality! You got this! He had convinced himself. There was no way this could end badly. The darkness still made it hard to see though. And it was really quite chilly in the museum. Who controlled the heating here?  
Footsteps. Echoing across the museum. They came from the left of him, light enough that if you weren’t paying attention, you wouldn’t hear it. He couldn’t see anything at all, but he heard footsteps.  
A figure formed the closer the footsteps came. They held an unrecognizable, pointed face, and dressed in a way that was unfit for a bank robbery. A tuxedo pinched their skin and they had a performer’s hat atop their messy black hair. He couldn’t see the figure’s eyes, the darkness hid the top half of their face. But the figure could see him.  
“Patton?” A deep voice.  
“Who-” he stopped himself. Who did he know that would notice he was Patton, but not Thomas? Who would he never be able to recognize yet would recognize him? And who, of every person he and Thomas knew, would do something so criminal as stealing the most valuable metal on Earth?  
They raised their head so Patton could make out the color of their eyes. Yellow. That confirmed it.  
“Deceit.”  
The traitorous side had ran away from Thomas when they were 17, a year after their powers had been discovered. It had been right after everyone agreed to never use them under any circumstance. But Deceit had disagreed. He was the most powerful out of every one of them, gifted with illusions. He could change himself to seem like anything he wanted, or even make someone hallucinate their worst fears. His only tell was no matter who he looked like his eyes would be yellow. As soon as Thomas had sworn to pretend he was never a mutant, something in Deceit snapped. One morning, he was nowhere to be seen, and never came back after that.  
“Oh, Patton,” The facial features and clothes of the person before melted and bubbled until they were replaced with two differently-colored eyes, scales scratched across his face, and a pleasant smile.  
“It has been too long.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Is my updating schedule that inconsistent? I forgot to specify in my last chapter that in this universe Vine never got killed (RIP vine) so Thomas doesn't spend that much time on his Youtube channel and therefore, has no sanders sides series. Also! I would appreciate if people critiqued my writing so i can get better. a simple 'characterization seems off' is good, i don't need you to make it flowery or balance it out with a positive comment (though i do appreciate those too). I've also written part of the next chapter, so don't expect too long of a wait if this cliffhanger kills you.


	6. What side are you on?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deceit talks to Patton and it has unforeseen consequences.

“I remember the last time we talked,” Deceit continued while Patton could not bring himself to speak, “Or rather, argued. It was about, oh yes, how we should never, ever, use our abilities under any circumstance. And yet, you join the Avengers? You must explain the logic here.”  
Ten, eleven, twelve years since he had since Deceit. And here he was. Standing two paces in front of him.   
“Deceit...” he couldn’t see properly because tears were forming in his eyes. Stupid tears. “It’s been so long! We miss you.”  
“Please, Patton. Keep this professional.”  
He might be in shock right now, he was giggling slightly to himself and Deceit must’ve thought he was delirious. “ We decided to change. We were wrong, Deceit, you were right. You can come back now, and help us be a hero.”  
“With the Avengers?” Deceit hissed, “with the risk of death and no reward? I argued to use our powers because I wanted Thomas to be safe, to not bend over for what society said about mutants. But the Avengers? That’s worse.” Patton couldn’t move as Deceit walked past him, he didn’t turn his head as Deceit left his view. The first time he had seen Deceit in twelve years, and now he was about to disappear again.   
“Don’t worry, Patton. I’ll fix this.” Patton heard Deceit open the door, and heard it close again.  
He stood there for longer than he should’ve, because he hadn’t noticed that people were yelling in his earpiece. In a daze, he found his way back to the others, and they drove back to SHIELD HQ.  
\----  
“WHAT. WAS. THAT!?” NIck Fury slammed his hand down on the table where Thomas had been told to sit. He was being interrogated in some SHIELD location, and all of his sides were back in his head. He knew something had gone wrong on the stakeout, but Patton was too busy crying to tell him what had happened. Roman was trying to comfort him, but he still couldn’t speak coherently. Logan was analyzing the conversation meticulously, and Virgil was deep in the corners of his mind.  
“What was what, sir?” His voice cracked in the middle of the sentence. He knew they failed to protect the vibranium, but this seemed overkill for a newbie failing a mission, and Nick Fury looked at him like he was the newest target he had to kill.  
“Don’t play dumb, Sanders, it’ll only make this harder.” He pulled out a portable tablet, with security footage from the museum. The paused button covered a greyscale Patton in the middle of the video.  
“But that’s just Pat-” Nick Fury started the video. A figure appeared before Patton, and Thomas watched as that figure turned into Deceit.  
“Deceit...” He could hear Patton sobbing even louder in his head. “Why is he there?” he muttered to himself. Patton and Deceit spoke for a few seconds, then Deceit left Patton standing there in silence.  
“Care to explain why this figure looks exactly like you, and why one of your clones let him through the exit without once trying to stop him or call for help?”  
“It’s complicated, sir. That was Deceit, he was one of my sides that I haven’t seen since I was 17. I didn’t knew he was going to be here, I swear.”  
“You didn’t know where one of your clones was? Funny, I was under the impression they were you.”  
“No, they’re not my clones, they’re my sides. That means...uh,” Nick Fury leaned in closer to Thomas, daring him to speak more. “I can’t control them.”  
“How convenient you tell us this now, even though your report specifically states you have clones as your power.”  
This isn’t an ideal situation, Thomas. We need a plan, Logan said.   
“That was a mistake.”  
“Even if that were true, one of your clones let ‘Deceit’ go free with a valuable piece of diplomacy. ” Even the eye under his eyepatch was glaring at Thomas. “Sounds to me like you planned to join the Avengers and waited for an opening to get away with a heist.”  
You need to convince him that we’re different from Deceit. Tell him we’ll get the vibranium back ourselves to make up for this.   
“No, sir, I wouldn’t-”  
“Unfortunate that you can’t get away with it if you’re locked up here.” Fury motioned to the guards to escort Thomas away.  
Thomas, run.  
He almost tripped over his chair as he stood up and bolted out of the door. The element of surprise helped him escape the agents at first, but they’re was know way he’d outrun them.  
“I need a plan, Logan,” He said aloud to his sides as he ran along an unoccupied hallway.  
Now that we’ve run, they’ll think we’re guilty. We have to hide out and wait until the Avengers can convince Fury he’s made a mistake, or until we find Deceit and make him return the vibranium. Agents were getting closer to him, and were catching up at quite a fast pace. He probably should’ve exercised more, but that thought wouldn’t help him right now.  
Their guns are irregular. It is my guess they hold tranquilizer darts or another form of sedation. This means they want to capture but not kill you. As expected of an organization like SHIELD.  
Hurry up, specs! Roman was definitely getting scared.  
“But what’s the plan, Logan?” Thomas panted, unable to speak well because of the energy he was using.  
Sorry, Thomas, but we’ll need to leave you behind so they think they’ve captured somebody. Virgil will make everyone else invisible so we can escape. Virgil, get ready to-, Logan stopped and looked around the mindspace. Virgil? I can’t find Virgil. What should we-  
Thomas yelled out a bad word as a dart shot him in the ankle, and fell to the floor. Get back up, Thomas, Roman yelled at him, You need to get up!  
He tried to get up, but he stumbled and fell again. His vision started to swirl around like honey.  
I’m really really sorry, Thomas. It’s my fault for this. I shouldn’t’ve let Deceit go, Patton said, drying his eyes. The agents were a few feet away, but moved slower now that they knew their target was down.  
You just have to keep moving, Thomas! Roman shouted, but the words he were saying got mixed up in Thomas’s mind and he couldn’t get them through his head. His head seemed filled with water, splashing around and messing with his thoughts, then dribbling out of his ears. He couldn’t move. Logan was rambling about the effects of the drug he was hit with, but he could feel it happening already. His body felt numb, and no matter how hard he tried, his arms and legs weren’t controlled by him anymore. Everything was falling down. Even the lids of his eyes were falling, but now he couldn’t tell where gravity was affecting him. He could’ve been standing upright now, or hanging from his ankles. It was like he was sleeping, dreaming, he couldn’t feel anything as if he was floating in a void.  
He closed his eyes.  
\----  
“Shitshitshitshit.” Virgil had seen Thomas get carried away into a cell by SHIELD agents. He had rose up out of Thomas, hidden by invisibility, before he was about to be interrogated by Fury. Nick Fury’s stare made him a little anxious, so he decided to go on a walk so he could have a break.   
But he had abandoned Thomas, and hadn’t been able to help him escape. He had to help Thomas. This was his fault. All his fault. If only he stayed, his stupid anxiety getting in the way of of everything. He could’ve helped Thomas. Now Logan, Roman, Patton and Thomas were trapped. His fault.  
Breathe, Virgil, you’re going to give yourself an anxiety attack.  
He stopped to count his breathes. He needed to think. What would Logan do? He’d find a way to get them free, then find a safehouse. Joan’s place would be a good safehouse. Only Joan and Thomas’s mom knew of Thomas’s powers, and he didn’t want to worry Thomas’s mom. But how could he free them? He’d have to find someone who was allowed to go into the Avenger’s base, trusted them, and could break the digital lock on where Thomas was being kept.   
Peter, perfect. Virgil remembered he had been hanging out in a spare room, somewhere on the fourth floor.  
Virgil rushed up flights of stairs, narrowly avoiding several SHIELD agents and probably confusing them with seemingly out of place footsteps. Finally, he made it to the blank slate of a room where he hoped Peter would be. Peter was there, flopped the only couch scrolling through some Tumblr memes.  
And now the hardest part: revealing himself to Peter as a side of Thomas that had been kept a VERY suspicious secret, and convincing him Thomas was NOT guilty, even if there seemed to be very good evidence against him and if Virgil was in Peter’s position he’d most definitely not trust himself yet he had to ask Peter to because Thomas was hurt and he needed someone to help him god why did he think this was a good idea they never should’ve joined the avengers they could’ve been sitting at home eating pizza and oreos with Talyn and Terrence and not worrying about-  
He sighed, and tried to lower his heart rate levels enough to not die of a heart attack.  
His invisibility dropped like a cape. “Hey, Peter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not edited that well, but i'm Tired. next chap might take a while, but my update schedule is like a rabbit running around with multiple carrots-on-a-stick attached to its back. by which i mean unpredictable and dependent on food. well, hope you enjoyed, and leave a comment or kudos or whatever you want to do.


	7. Peter's 'side'quest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil enlists Peter's help to rescue Thomas from SHIELD and escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, don't think i've seen you in a few months. all jokes a'side', sorry for taking so long to update. I know I don't exactly write fast, so this chapter is pretty long for me. Also, this fic is wrapping up soon, so get ready for an awesome finale!

Peter didn’t even look up when Virgil announced himself in a gravelly voice, addressing the teenager. He was engrossed in a phone game, tapping at the screen with a fury in his eyes. Maybe Virgil had just been too quiet. His voice could need warming up from being in the mindscape for hours. He coughed twice.

“Um, hey Peter.” 

Peter finally looked up, then had to glance again to check his eyes were working.

“What… Who are you? Mr. Sanders…?”

“Actually, I’m one of his sides,” Virgil stood uncomfortably, he tried to lean against the wall, but it didn’t work out, so he just awkwardly went back to how he was standing. The kid was staring at him the whole time, and it made Virgil want to just excuse himself and help Thomas another way. Someone else had to be more suited for this. Someone who was stronger, smarter, someone better at this than he was. Someone who maybe wouldn’t mess it up, or ruin it, or get caught themselves, or-

“-Excuse me? Mr. Sanders, can you hear me? I asked if you were like Deceit. Thomas said something about it on the ride back here but I haven’t seen him since the mission. Speaking of Mr. Thomas, Where is he?”

“That’s kinda… That’s what I’m here for. I really need your help, kid.”

“What with?”

“Fury, he, he blamed Thomas for Deceit, and now he’s locked up. The sides, Thomas and I need to be the ones who stop Deceit, we can talk to him, get him to stop. If the Avengers try to fight him, he’ll crush them.”

“All of the Avengers? Including the Hulk? Wow. What kind of powers does Deceit even have?”

“Illusions, basically. He can make himself look like anything, and he can invade your mind to make you see anything he wants. If you’re near him, you can’t be sure what’s real or not.”

“Awesome! I mean, uh, that’s not good. So what’s your power, then? Teleportation?”

“Invisibility.”

“How does it work? Can you turn others invisible? And how do your clothes turn invisible with you? Maybe we should go to the lab now… test it out-”

“Maybe some other time, but Thomas first.”

Peter stopped rambling for a split second, snapping back to reality. “Oh, right! Give me a second, I’ll find out where they took him.”

Virgil settled down while Peter pulled out a computer and tapped away at the keyboard. He was glad for a break in conversation, but not talking also meant thinking, which usually led to him preparing a mental list of everything bad that could go wrong in a lifespan. Trying to shield his thoughts, he turned his attention over to his surroundings. The room Peter was in was simple, in a way others might describe as barren. There was a single table with two chairs, no window and one beanbag in the corner. Even with the minimum items for a room, the space inside couldn’t squeeze more than two people in the room. If Virgil stretched out his leg from where he was waiting on the table, he could touch Peter laptop as Peter typed on his laptop, smooshed into the beanbag.

After ten minutes of what Virgil described as awkward silence (not that the side would describe silence as anything but awkward) Peter announced that Thomas was currently in a holding cell and don't worry, he found the code very easily. Time for the rescue to commence.

 

\-------

 

Meanwhile, Thomas had just woken up from being hit by a tranquilizer. His head hadn’t felt this bad since he had pulled two all-nighters for his chemical engineering final. Even closed, his eyes hurt. The  light on his rods and cones made him want to die, and his muscles felt as if they’d been left out in the rain all night by a forgetful child.

After several minutes of complaining in his head, he made the decision to open his eyes looked around. A cell, of course. There was nothing in it, just an uncomfortable metal slab that he was lying on at the moment that served as a seat. The space would’ve made him claustrophobic, but there was metal bars in front of him so he could be watched. Someone was guarding his cell, of course. A closer look and he could tell it was Hawkeye.   The dude he had first saved, and according to the other Avengers, got him into the Avengers in the first place, was right in front of him. He was probably disappointed. For some reason, Thomas couldn't focus on how he was a captured criminal but was more worried about Hawkeye not liking him.

While Thomas was being consumed by embarrassment, Peter Parker was walking up to Hawkeye so their plan could be put into action. Peter just casually mentioned how Black Widow wanted to talk with him, and that he’d guard his station for a bit, and Hawkeye was gone. 

“Hey, Thomas,” Peter leaned into the cell, with his arms holding a metal bar on either side of him, and his face in between. “We’ve come to rescue you.”

“Thanks Peter, But aren’t you not supposed to do this? I don’t want to get you in trouble.” He tried to stand up slowly, and only managed to get into a sitting position. His arms and legs were hard to control, they felt floppy to him. Pins and needles crawling up his limbs. He attempted it again, and actually lifted off where he had been lying. But as soon as he wasn’t holding the slab for support, he fell down, only to have sturdy arms appear and grab ahold of him to lift him up onto his feet. The rest of the body turned visible right before catching him.

“Hi, Thomas” Virgil helped him upright, but placed Thomas’s arm around his shoulder for support.

“Virgil, thank gosh! I knew you’d be fine.” 

“Can you summon the other sides now? We might need backup.”

Thomas realized that he hadn’t heard Logan, Patton, or Roman speak to him since he woke up. Nothing was in the mindscape. He froze. “I can’t hear them. I don’t know where they are.”

“I think he got hit by a tranquilizer. Maybe that’s why your powers aren’t working.” Peter paused in thought, “He’ll feel unsteady, but’ll be fine in a few hours. He just needs to sleep it off.”

"Aren’t you worried about the Avengers finding out you helped me escape?” Thomas was trying to pay attention to what Peter said about what the tranquilizer’s effects were, but his head was fuzzier than it needed to be.

“I’ve disabled all the cameras in this hallway, and put them all on loop like they do in the movies so no one evens knows. Besides, I don’t want my favourite Viner getting arrested.” Peter pointed towards a hallway nearby. “Keep walking down that, and you'll get to a car park. Grab a SHIELD car, the punch buggies are the only ones that don’t have trackers on them.”

“Thanks Peter, see you soon.” a half smile appeared on Virgil’s face, then he and Thomas vanished. Peter didn’t stick around, he didn’t want Hawkeye to walk in on him near the cell, with the prisoners gone. He went back to his room and tried to finish some geometry dash.

\----

It had taken 9 hours to reach Joan’s house in their cramped BMW. Overall, Virgil knew it could’ve taken much longer, but at the same time, Fury definitely knew they were gone by now, meaning they were searching for Thomas already. Virgil had driven the car, allowing Thomas to sleep off the tranquilizer. His host was currently curled up in the squished backseat of the car, he had slept through Virgil driving from New York, mostly sticking to the countryside, to the city in Florida where Joan lived. He pulled up on the driveway of Joan’s house at night, and carried Thomas bridal style, still sleeping into their doorway. Virgil kicked the door to substitute for knocking, his hands were tied up holding Thomas’s unconscious body. Joan wouldn’t mind. They came quickly, opening up the door. Surprisingly, Joan wasn’t in pajamas, but in a beanie, plus a regular t-shirt and jeans.

“Hi Virgil.” Joan looked down at Thomas’s head lolling off of Virgil’s arms, “Explain?”

“Can it be in the morning?” Virgil, although not being technically human, still needed sleep if he parted from the host for too long. He hated to put Joan in danger without them knowing the truth, but he was going to collapse soon after 9 hours of driving, without any from stopping him from thinking of how Thomas and his sides were going to live on the run forever or be locked in a cell until they die when they’re 90.

Joan nodded, and led them into the door. Virgil dumped Thomas onto the couch. The anxious trait sank down on the floor near Thomas, his back resting on the couch Thomas was on. 

“Can’t you, um,” Joan gestured to their head, “go into the mind palace to sleep?”

“It doesn’t work that way.”

They nodded, “I have a spare room upstairs then.”

Virgil didn't respond, too tired to talk at the moment. He made his way to the stairs. Thomas had been to Joan’s house plenty of times, so Virgil knew his way around. The side considered borrowing some clothes from Joan’s closet and decided for it, looking in the spare room’s closet.

No matter how many terrible scenarios Virgil had imagined in his head, none could have prepared him for this. Joan’s body, unconscious, tied up with a gag and lying on the floor of the closet. Nothing made sense. His mind whirled with outlandish theories in the second it took for him to react. Two Joans. I wasn’t possible, one of them was fake. Who would do that? Who even knew that Thomas would be at Joan’s house? Who had the ability to appear as others, change their appearance?

Of course.

Yellow gloves wrapped around Virgil’s throat, wrenching him into the middle of the room. His yelp was muffled, he couldn’t call for help. Desperately, his hands clawed at the hands that were stopping him from breathing. 

“You had to snoop,” growled Deceit. “You couldn't have just remained oblivious, fallen asleep. You’re messing with the plan.” 

His head was getting light. His oxygen was cut off, Deceit had covered his nose and his mouth, no matter how much he tried to breathe in, he wouldn’t be able to stay conscious for much longer. In a last ditch attempt, Virgil took his hands from Deceit’s grip, and elbowed Deceit too fast for him to react. The lying side jumped, releasing Virgil on instinct. He scrambled for the door to get out and call for help, or wake Thomas up, or just run until he was too far away for anyone to catch him. His hand reached out for the door handle. He tried to tense his body, getting ready to slam in the door, pull at the doorknob and run through the door, but he went straight through it. An illusion. Deceit had changed the room around, he hadn’t noticed. Nothing in the room could be trusted.  Thinking, he turned invisible, heart beating. He just needed to feel around for the door, and he could escape.

Deceit’s eyes narrowed, “You want to play that game?” he snapped his fingers, and Virgil couldn’t see him anymore. 

His illusions gave him to much of an advantage over Virgil. This wasn’t a fight he could win. The only thing he could do right now was to distract Deceit for as long as he could. "But your eyes, they’re-"

"What? Where are my yellow eyes? Come now, Virgil, do you think I'd give myself away that easily? I have contact lenses." the position of the voice moved around, getting closer to where Virgil was standing.

"Why are you doing this?" The anxious side said through gritted teeth. He wasn't focused on Deceit's answer, but hoped he could distract him so he'd have a chance to either fight or flee. Virgil tried to listen for footsteps to find Deceit.

“I’m  here to help Thomas, unlike all his other sides, who are leading him straight to danger. Unfortunately, it seems I may have to alter the plan due to your actions. I don’t know how anymore, but I will prevent Thomas from ever going back to the Avengers, no matter what it takes.” Deceit’s voice was getting closer to a hiss, but Virgil could tell the lying side was almost directly behind him, close enough to touch.

All he had to do was hit Deceit hard enough to knock him down, hard enough for him to lose concentration of his powers, enough for Virgil to find the door and escape. Tensing his body, Virgil pulled his hand into a fist, and lunged towards Deceit.

He had barely swung his punch when his stomach and legs connected to a small, unseeable table. Virgil crumpled to the ground. Futilely he tried to absorb some impact with his hands, but his head smashed into the floor without anything to soften the blow.  His body was sprawled over a now-visible nightstand, broken when Virgil tripped over it. Stunned, Virgil realized he hadn’t kept up his camouflage. Deceit, he knew exactly where Virgil was.

“You’re making such a mess of the house, Virgil.” Deceit’s voice was now directly above him.

Deceit tutted, appearing over Virgil lying on the floor. “I’m very sorry, but I can’t have you anywhere near Thomas if I want to save our family.”  He drew his leg back, then swung it forward towards Virgil’s head. Virgil’s mind went black.

  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I know this doesn't exactly look like sympathetic deceit, think of it as morally ambiguous but still redeemable deceit! anyway, comment, like, subscribe, hit that notification bell and et cetera if you want. Next chapter should come faster, don't worry, I plan to finish this in less than 20 years.


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